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Published on November 01, 2004.

Johnny Walker "Tree"

The last time that Framestore CFC worked with Johnny Walker, we got the award-winning "Fish," which showed people swimming like dolphins. In "Tree," the VFX folks show a tree walking like a person-a very slow person-as it moves to the a city plaza (why, we're not quite sure). Traversing a river, a field, and a bridge, the tree majestically and resolutely uproots itself, thanks to digital artists, who used a British Oak as their inspiration for their CG tree. After it was animated, it was then composited into the various locations and the light was re-adjusted to account for its leafy branches. The tag: "Whatever your dream, keep walking."

This ID for a programming block on the Anime Network, which launched as a 24-hour channel this summer, shows a dilemma in first-person POV. The choice: eat breakfast, or watch TV. After some hesitation, the character-now shown as a cartoon-proportioned but photo-real robot-bounces onto the couch to eagerly watch his favorite programming, which of course contains more robots. The 3-D bot, set in a live-action house, is cute and appealing, but most definitely made of rion, as if Disney had animated Mini's Men of Metal. Watching the bulky robot fidget is a disarming and comic experience. Wonder how he eats the cornflakes.

Director Francois Vogel stars as himself in one spot from the latest HP campaign, in a real mind-boggler that shows him holding various pictures in front of his head, which bobs and sings along to the Kinks' "Picture Book." Some empty frames capture his expression as a photograph, and others turn from photo to window, as he puts the frames over his head and around his neck. The technique is a relatively simple effects job-compositing stills into white frames-but used to the right effect, the result is a delightful visual treat.